Robert S. Pepper, Phd.

I was gratified to read Oliver Burkeman’s essay in the Guardian, “The Revenge of Freud”. According to him, recent research seems to indicate what I suspected all along. Over the long haul, psychoanalysis trumps “Train Your Brain”-type therapy. ...

“I read the news today, oh boy”. According to the NY Post, January 19, 2016, Jerry Seinfeld is auctioning off some of his garage of fancy cars for millions of dollars. He is quoted as saying:” it’s time to send some of them back into the world, for...

In a recent article by Oliver Burkeman in The Guardian entitled, “Therapy Wars: The Revenge of Freud”, the author cites current research supporting the effectiveness of long-term psychotherapy, over the darling of quick-fix gurus and insurance companies, Cognitive...

Some group members have been so damaged by childhood emotional neglect that no amount of TLC in the present can undo the past. It’s like water through a sieve; nothing accrues. Although Henry is not Catholic, he claims that his life’s mantra is mea culpa. He reports...

When group members get lost in ‘futurizing’ about how much better their lives will be at some distant time and place, I first will ask them:” And what are you going to do in the meantime?” The point is that we all are of two minds about almos...

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about Mario Livio’s brief depiction of Freud in his book, “Brilliant Blunders”. While Livio devoted considerably more time and space (play on words intended) on Einstein’s scientific blunders, for me, his most significant...

Mario Livio, in his book “Brilliant Blunders”, addresses the subject of how the mistakes that genius scientists make actually advance scientific knowledge. He goes so far as to say that science cannot progress without these brilliant blunders. Unfortunately, Livio...

When I opened the door to my office and stepped into the waiting room, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the young woman seated there. She had long blond hair, translucent skin and blue eyes, as if Marilyn Monroe herself had somehow come back to life and was now here to...

After watching the terrific new film, “Spotlight”, it occurred to me that there are similarities between this movie’s theme and that of the classic 1940’s movie “Gaslight” (where the husband attempts to drive his wife mad by invalidating her...

President Obama seems to think most world leaders are ‘out of their minds’. I agree but disagree with his assessment of how this comes about. Apparently, he believes that the job itself makes a man (most world leaders are men) crazy. I think the process starts before...

Early this brisk morning on New Year’s Day, while I walked past the Church on my corner, I saw a homeless guy sitting on the steps. We made eye-contact and he asked me, in a foreign accent, if I lived around here. I was startled and initially put off by the question...

Sitting at my desk on this dark, dreary winter’s evening, I recalled a warm, sunny late Spring afternoon some years ago. While vacationing at Fair Harbor on Fire Island NY , I stood on the dock and watched a family of swans swim past, in a straight line. The family...

We, human beings are dependent creatures. We are born dependent and need each other throughout our lives; but when our relationships don’t meet our dependency needs, we often turn to substances as a substitute. That’s why drug dealers never have to advertise. ...

We want our mommies. Sometimes, the need for immediate gratification takes precedence over good judgment, and motivates behavior that is infantile and even reckless, no matter how high a man’s station in life–think Monica Lewinsky. Although I don’t have a lot...

Years ago, while examining me during a pre-op physical, my surgeon complained to me about his wife . Three times within the same sentence, he referred to her as his mother. I said;” You’re lucky my meter is off. Otherwise, I’d tell you that you married your...

Emotions are like energy. Feelings can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. This conservation of emotions can take three possible forms: 1. they can be put into words 2. they can be acted out 3. they can be put into the body and be transformed into symptoms. In...

Isn’t there an interviewer out there brave enough to take him on and bully him back? I would love to see Lewis Black interview him. Trump really is an easy target if you think about it. I mean he has very serious character flaws– rigidity, paranoia and without...

“Because you’re too good” was my reply to Ruthie who posed this question to her therapy group. She was incredulous as to why her adult son was disrespectful and demanding, and with a great sense of entitlement, despite the fact that she and her husband gave ...

We don’t exist in a vacuum. In fact, we live in an ecological world where our words and our behavior effect the way others experience us and react to us. In one of my therapy groups, for example, Harry, a 30-ish male member, told us that he was offered a promotion at...

As I noted in my last blog, there is a striking similarity between the physical world and the emotional world. The resemblance is profound. Einstein’s insight about the nature of energy, known as the Theory of the Conservation of Energy, applies to emotions as well. There...